Monthly Archives: January 2017

“You must not lose faith in humanity. Humanity is an ocean; if a few drops of the ocean are dirty, the ocean does not become dirty.” Gandhi

I’m tired of the craziness we’re all feeling about the world today. I hate seeing friends tearing each other apart. Good people who see the world differently. It’s time to stop.

We’ve let fear control our thinking. From fear comes intolerance. Intolerance of other opinions. It’s not the opinions that are the problem (and please know, this is hard for me to say because I have some pretty strong f***ing opinions on certain issues). But, but rather intolerance is the problem. Other people have a right to their own opinion just as I’ve a right to mine.

My grandfather once said, “If you see two people arguing and you want to figure out who’s losing the argument, just listen to who’s shouting the loudest. The person who is not listening is losing the argument.” Makes sense.

We must listen to understand. Only understanding will bring change.

I’ve been studying Gandhi and here are my favorite themes in his life’s work:

1. Change yourself. If you change how you think, you’ll change how you feel and what actions you take. In turn, the world will change around you. Lose your old thought patterns about how to make change and find new ones. Throw away fear and anger and use understanding. Simplistic? I don’t think so.

2. Forgive. “The weak can never forgive. Forgiveness is the attribute of the strong.” Fighting evil with evil won’t help. Listen and respond with empathy – not with more anger. When you do that, you can focus totally on the next point. The next point might make the difference.

3. Persist. Success will seldom come as quickly as you like. We live in a world full of magic pill solutions where we’re promised that we can lose a lot of weight or earn a ton of money in just 30 days. It takes time. Be patient.

4. See the good.There’s always something good in people and also things that aren’t so good. You can choose what things to focus on. If you want improvement than focus on the good in people. Because if you respect them and they respect you – even if there are differences – you’ll find common ground. And with that, will come change.

5. Be authentic. I love being around those who are open and clear about who they are – even if they’re different from me. It’s powerful. When your words and thoughts are aligned that shows through in your communication.

Change is in the air. And, while it may be a s*** storm for a while — it’s a wake up call for us to refocus on that which is critically important. But, remember – we can only do that by understanding and acceptance first. We got here by fear and intolerance. Let’s get to the next place by love.